Highlighting the creative magic behind post-processed photos

UPDATE: My apologies to Brenda of A Meditative Journey with Saldage, who was the first to submit her version of David’s image and whose image I failed to include. 

Submitted by Brenda — A Meditative Journey with Saldage

Brenda says:

An invisible thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, and circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle. But it will never break.
~Ancient Chinese Proverb

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of Welcome to ABFriday’s monthly One Photo Focus! This month, 21 photographers are sharing their post-processing interpretations of one “before” image submitted by David Croker of CADEPhotographic.

We begin with David’s “before” image, followed by the “afters,” and at the end, a gallery of all so you can watch the changes as you scroll through. Be sure to click the links to each participant’s blog as many have written posts “uncovering the magic” behind their “after” images. And if you would like to participate in July’s One Photo Focus, you’ll find all the details on the After-Before Friday Forum page.

Don’t forget to check out After-Before Friday, hosted by Benjamin Rowe on Aperture 64. There you can share the magic “after” of your own “before” image, every Friday except the first Friday of each month (when One Photo Focus runs)!

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BEFORE PHOTO

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Submitted by David Croker — CADEPhotographic

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Submitted by Stacy Fischer — Visual Venturing

When I saw David’s photo, I immediately thought of lazy, hazy summer days and wanted to find a way to convey that feeling in my processing choices. I began in Lightroom and applied a LR preset called Old Polar. From there, I moved into Color Efex Pro, where I applied four filters: Pro Contrast, Monday Morning, Skylight Filter, and Detail Extractor. This is what I had at this point:

I quite liked this look (aside from the electrical wires and transformers), but wanted to see if I could give it a golden hour feel. So after using the healing brush in Photoshop to clean up the background, I applied and then readjusted a preset in Lightroom called “Sunset Detonation” to give the image the look I was going for. I’d love to know what other methods I could have used to remove the wires – this wasn’t very precise and would not have worked as well (for me) without softening the image.

Many thanks to David for sharing his image with us. I really had a lot of fun working on this one!

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Submitted by Bren Ryan — RyanPhotography

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Submitted by Chris — sv-takeiteasy

Chris says: Now this is an image I enjoyed working on!  You know me… boats and water… a winning combination!

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Submitted by Ted Griffith — Ted Griffith’s Photo Art Studio

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Submitted by Yvette — In the Zone 2001

Yvette says: My image transformation was inspired by “things I love” – scuba diving, Florida Manatees, and calm water.  The telephone wires were the first thing I noticed with this photo by David Coker. I also thought of how Cee Neuner once blogged that she did not always like telephone wires and while I like wires a bit, I just explored with taking them out and the resulting hills reminded me of Colorado.

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Submitted by Bryan — theonlyD800inthehameau

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Submitted by Sherry Felix – Port4u

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Submitted by Katie Prior — Drawing with Light

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Submitted by Amy — The World Is a Book

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Submitted by Julie Powell — Julie Powell Photography

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Submitted by George McCane — Photoman401

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Submitted by Laura Macky — Laura Macky Photography

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Submitted by Michelle Lunato — Michelle Lunato Photography

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Submitted by Joanne Ritchie — Coffee Fuels My Photography!

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Submitted by Marie — The Syllabub Sea

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Submitted by Cee Neuner — Cee’s Photography

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Submitted by Emilio Pasquale — Photos by Emilio

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Submitted by Raewyn — decocraftsdigicrafts

Raewyn says: I had to really think about what to do with this image as it was just too good to edit.  I played around with some Topaz textures for a painted look. 

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Submitted by Robin Kent — PhotographybyKent

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 Submitted by Linda James — Rainy Day Reflections

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 Please click on the links of those who contributed this week, to read about their post-processing steps and/or to see what other treasures they have on their blogs. They’d love to have you visit!

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So what do you think of the ABFriday forum?

Feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comment section. And don’t forget to view the guidelines if you want to participate. I’d love to have you onboard!

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